Friday, October 31, 2008

Goh-ing Dutch (a couldn't-resist exception to my title rule)

Having a spot of trouble getting out into the world beyond South Ealing. I've been back here for 3 days and other than the grocer's, I'm pretty much reluctant to venture far from my brother's flat. Might be because I had such a maximized time in the Netherlands. In those 8 days, I walked substantial distances around 7 towns, including Brugge in Belgium, visited 13 museums and snapped more than 1500 photos on my 350D. Perhaps with so much just past, I'm not feeling too keen to add on to my overflowing treasure of experiences for fear I'd forget some.


So this post will be an attempt to visually journal it down somewhat so that I can "move on". And I say visually because verbally I think I'm maxed out as well from the previous post about losing my phone. =P

Took me a while to figure out some sort of structure to this post - again, there was just so much that I experienced. Decided to revolve it around a major highlight of the trip - visiting museums & appreciating the Dutch masters of art. So instead of dumping a whole lot of my own photos (although i don't think I can avoid a fraction of it), I'm gonna be posting up the incredible works of art I had the privilege to admire up close in the beautiful land of dykes and windmills.


The following is a chronological visual recount of the sights that made me stop & stare.

::::::::::::: 21 Oct 2008. ROTTERDAM. :::::::::::::

Men watching over museumpark.
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen...

The "little" Tower of Babel,
c. 1563. Pieter Brueghel the Elder.

Still life with fruit and ham
, 2nd quarter of 17th century. Jan Davidsz. de Heem.

HORIZONS Interactive Installment, 2008. Geert Mul.

Netherlands Architecture Institute.

The Chabot Museum.

::::::::::::: 23-24 Oct 2008. AMSTERDAM. :::::::::::::

Where Rembrandt was buried. Notice the similar plaque later in "The Night Watch".

Amsterdam History Museum...
A painting depicting the arrival of Rembrandt's statue, with a very cool moving wall installation behind.

Where Rembrandt's statue stands on Rembrandtplein, and where others sit.

The Rembrandt House Museum...

Rembrandt's studio.
Self-portrait, 1630. Rembrandt van Rijn.
Rijksmuseum...

Self-portrait, 1628. Rembrandt van Rijn.

The Sampling Officials, 1662. Rembrandt van Rijn.

The Night Watch Rembrandt van Rijn.

The Kitchen Maid, c. 1658. Johannes Vermeer.

The Mill at Wijk-bij-Duurstede, c. 1670. Jacob van Ruisdael.
Although I've only managed to find one of the Ruisdaels I saw, I've actually become an ardent admirer of this landscape painter.

The Van Gogh Museum...

View of Auvers, 1890. Vincent van Gogh.

Landscape at Twilight, 1890. Vincent van Gogh.

Jewish Historical Museum.

foam: Fotographiemuseum Amsterdam.



::::::::::::: 25 Oct 2008. HAARLEM. :::::::::::::

Frans Hals Museum
.

::::::::::::: 26 Oct 2008. DEN HAAG. :::::::::::::

Escher in the Palace...
^snapped by Christina Ouwerkerk.



Day and Night, 1938. M.C. Escher.

Three Spheres II
, 1946. M.C. Escher.

Ascending and Descending, 1960. M.C. Escher.


4 comments:

YC said...

WL says- donwant donwant to leave comment cos only want to tell you that you're museum crazy!

and that she's got a pot of stew of love waiting for you when you get back. :)

ML says- awesome photos as always, mah buddy... glad to see that you're taking it slow after all the excitement!

richrach said...

hey, they allow u to take pix in museum?

the boggler said...

WL&ML - hahhah, yes I HAVE been quite museum crazy - but the museums here are really incredible - have actually started gohing to museums again in london and it's made me dream about setting up and curating an art museum in malaysia too! Stew!! I must say after eating a few stews here, yours is still the tops! =)

RY - yeah, most museums I went to let you take photos without flash and usually they specify that you don't take direct pictures of the art on display. Plus usually I'd be too caught up with the works of art to snap any photos. Out of awe and respect as well. The Escher Museum however encouraged a lot of interactivity so that's why i have a lot of photos from there. =)

lainieyeoh said...

wow. looks fantastic -- the one of the men overlooking from tall buildings in rotterdam looks like Antony Gormley's work to me